This month, I am writing about the studio I finished for taking better doll pics, and this is a project I have been thinking and working on for a few months.
In the past, I have been using paper backgrounds and those have traditionally been bad for pictures. For example walking on the paper would tear, stain and eventually ruin it, and that would need to be covered over. The doll would stain the paper as well, and I decided there must be a better way. So off I went shopping, and at Amazon I found vinyl backdrops that were just what I was looking for. So I ordered a grey/white 11 foot long by 6 foor wide roll and when that arrived, I realized the item was too heavy and needed a stronger support. Luckily the extra hangers I have are stronger steel and would acommodate the weight of the vinyl backdrop.
You can get some nice backdrops from the link below, and a decent size like 6x9 will work for portrait shots.
https://www.backdropexpress.com
Click on image for full size & gallery
You will need light sets with LED lights of at least 100W each and a camera flash unit like the Neewer one I use. You can use the flash around the room and that will give nice soft shadows when position right. There are remote units that plug into these to make them fully off-camera enabled. I use them positioned on a bookshelf or stand when needed, but not on the camera due to the shadows you get are harsh.
I also am thinking of making a doll support 2X2 that will enable the doll to stand alone and be held up from falling by a long piece of wood. This is a work in progress.
Anyway, you light up the backdrop with adjacent mounted lights at around 45deg relative to the subject, and a forward light position facing the subject but in a way to enhance her features.
I may do a video of this at some point so show an example.
Anyway, some pictures of my results are shown below.
